Morristown - The best little town by a damsite! 1855-2005
HISTORY...
 
 
. Alexander Faribault
American Fur Company
in Faribault
around 1826
 		 Morristown started with the Wahpekuta, a branch of the Sioux Tribe. According to local legend, they had a village on the south edge of Morristown. Alexander Faribault had a fur trading post in Morristown in 1832 as part of his Bois Plume Trading Company, possibly located at the current Feed Mill site or near Cannon River at Maiden Rock. In Herbert Buck's Book Early Fur Trading on the Cannon River in Rice County Minnesota, it says; Alexander Faribault, long a prominent factor in the American Fur Company, began trading at the Bois Plume, on the Cannon River in 1826.
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Bois Plume, on the Cannon River
Today's modern
Camp Maiden Rock
In April of 1855, Jonathan and Walter Morris came west along the Cannon River from Faribault in search of mill power. They followed the river as far as Waterville, then returned to Mr. Storer's place, where they were treated to pioneer hospitality. 
   Pleased with the splendid water power they found there, they decided to stay. In a few days they erected a log cabin located near the now restored mill. 
   Jonathan Morris also built the saw mill in 1855, and decided to lay a portion of his claim into village lots. But due to the hard work and exposure during the building of the water powered sawmill, he became sick and died. 
The Morris Family kept the mill in
operation until June of 1858 when a
swelled river washed it out.
.
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Mrs. Sarah Morris sold the mill to
Christian Hershey in 1860 who 
remodeled and converted the sawmill 
to the grist mill of today.
The Morristown Historical Society
has restored it to is original condition.
You can see it run during Dam Days
and other special occasions.
Inside the water mill.
After Jonathan's death, Mrs. Sarah Morris filed upon the track of land she and her husband settled on. She had C.C. Perkons survey a portion of her claim into town lots. 

Now that Christian Hershey's mill could grind wheat into flour for baking it flourished and new business lined both sides of the main town road. 
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No town could survive without a 
Black Smith's forge! 
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And of course; 
The Saloon! 
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Today's - Old Town Tavern
Now as Morristown grew the need for regular visits from the US Marshals had become a reality.
Trapping, Fishing and Hunting
where the main enterprises.
.
The Saloon was the only 
RECREATION.
.
Without the LAW
disputes could become
NASTY!
 
Legend has it that during the civil war the Minnesota 1st Militia got mired down in the mud and could not save the cannon while crossing the Cannon river before it was dammed up to create the lake as it exists today, . 
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Many people have tried, with using modern technology, to find this historic relic, but it still eludes the treasure hunters to this day. The Cannon is still there - Thus the Name Cannon Lake / River.
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